Russian Cosmonaut Sets New Record for Cumulative Days in Space

TapTechNews June 5 news, TapTechNews learned from TASS of Russia that Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko (Олег Кононенко) today set a new historical record and became the first person in the world to have cumulatively stayed in space for 1,000 days.

Kononenko is 59 years old and is currently on his fifth space flight and will celebrate his 60th birthday in space on June 21.

When he returns to Earth on September 23, Kononenko's total on-orbit time will cumulatively reach 1,110 days. Kononenko broke the record of 878 days of space flight set by Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka on February 4.

Kononenko said the new record would expand researchers' understanding of the human physical condition, Ultimately, humans are going to conduct interstellar flights, and in that case, the issue of requirements and the boundaries of human resources are crucial. We need to clearly understand what a person can do and what he needs to conduct an interstellar flight. The 1,000-day milestone can make a certain contribution to the development of space medicine.

Kononenko carried out his first space flight mission in April 2008, taking the Russian Soyuz TMA-12 manned spacecraft to the International Space Station and returning to Earth in October of the same year. Since then, Kononenko has completed space flight missions in 2011-2012, 2015 and 2018-2019 respectively, and has been in charge of leading the Russian cosmonaut team since 2016.